Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC) recently released their report on the settlement patterns of Syrian refugees to BC. This report is of particular interest to Surrey, as nearly half of all Government-Assisted Syrian refugees to BC were settled here.

From the report:

Operation Syrian Refugee and ongoing resettlement efforts marked the largest refugee resettlement mission in Canadian history. From November 4, 2015 to December 31, 2016 over 40,000 Syrian refugees were resettled through Canada’s humanitarian immigration stream. Within British Columbia, over 3,600 Syrians settled in sixty-nine (69) different communities throughout the province, primarily as government assisted refugees (GARs), with the majority residing within Metro Vancouver.

In total, British Columbia welcomed two thousand, five hundred and seven (2,507) Syrian GARs from November 4, 2015 to December 31, 2016. As can be seen, the majority of arrivals came in two main influxes: Operation Syrian Refugee (November 4, 2015 – February 28, 2016), as well as a smaller influx in the Fall (September 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016) as part of ongoing resettlement efforts.

ISSofBC has been the sole provider of the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) for Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) destined to British Columbia. [...] One thousand and eighty-two (1,082) Syrian GARs or forty-three percent (43%) of GAR arrivals in BC settled in the City of Surrey. Besides having the largest concentration of Syrian GAR households in the province, the City of Surrey also represented 5.6% of all Syrian GARs to Canada during this time period.